Legenda 41: Stuff worth reading

[Legenda offers a brief, non-inclusive index of stuff I noticed and enjoyed since the last episode. It doesn’t usually include materials presented on the major fansites, which I love dearly, but which are linked in the sidebar. Because I always forget or just miss stuff, please add additional pieces of interest via link in the comments.]

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Amusing but totally coincidental timing — Legenda 41 published the week after the 41st Richard Armitage birthday. I know you’re going to say, it gets just a bit earlier every week — but it looks like life is about throw a colossally frightening monkey-wrench at me. Tomorrow is going to be crazy busy, and then Monday is probably going to be much worse than already anticipated, which was already pretty bad. So I want to put this out there today, especially after hearing so often this week that Legenda is something you look forward to. Since I mostly blog to suit myself, it’s the least I can do (grin).

Stories of the week — first, Armitage Day. As zan said, Armitage Day 2012 was really extraordinary. I knew from chatting with people that big plans were underway, but this explosion surpassed my expectations. I’ve been involved in various organized fan events, obviously, and coordination works really well for certain kinds of things, but one of the most delightful aspects of Armitage Day 2012 was its impromptu character, with all kinds of blog posts, tumblr cascades, and twitter choirs. What a fantastic celebration!

It was also noticeable from the “messages” page on RichardArmitageNet.com that a number of Chinese fans appeared to join the birthday greetings. I’ve been noticing my posts linked on a Chinese discussion board from time to time, but haven’t said anything because I can’t tell what they are saying. (My education fails me yet again — sigh). If you’re reading this, Chinese fans, hello! I’ve added a link to your board.

Second, first new pic of Armitage in Black Sky.

Richard Armitage as a so far unnamed character in Blue Black Sky. First picture from the film courtesy of Todd Garner.

spReAd the love concluded with 43 donations of blood or food. Thanks to all who joined in in their local communities! spReAd the love will reappear around Valentine’s Day, and will be soliciting donations of used clothing and school supplies as well as blood or food. And I hope it will have a new graphic then that is maybe a bit more subtle than the last one, which someone slapped together in two minutes.

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Still ongoing: #PorterWatch (coordinate groupwatch of Strike Back at Twitter) was active last night and continues tonight and tomorrow night. Schedule here.

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The Armitage Birthday Roundup. I am so sure this is incomplete. Do, do, do add your links in the comments.

The tumblr fans put together a 41st birthday book — and you can preview it and purchase a copy if you like. Just a warning that it took me forever to get that page to load, and so I haven’t seen all of the inside of the book at all. Once the book preview is loaded, click on the right margin of the book pages to page through. A sammelsurium of the tumblr fans’ favorite stuff — and introduction to some of them if you don’t know them already.

I thought twice before including this, but it is one of the more meaningful fanfics I’ve ever read. “Slander” at Taste of Hiddles. I recommend this cautiously because it is quite explicit — do not read it if you do not like explicit writing, it is almost all sex — but it expresses my cognitive dilemmas about this whole exercise of fandom and writing about Richard Armitage in such an amazing way that my jaw dropped as I was reading it. It’s also about Tom Hiddleston, which is the only thing that kept me from deleting this blog immediately upon reading it and replacing it with a link to that fiction. Highly recommended — but again, not if you don’t like erotic writing.

I haven’t seen vids in awhile – but PhoenixLupin’s contributions always have a mesmorizing quality to them, especially how her visuals interact with the music she selects.

Thanks for posting the link to 41. I was disappointed not to see a 40 from her. 39 actually made me laugh awhile back because I actually own the Yanni CD she selected the song from. Hope you enjoy it. ๐

Thanks as always for this roundup and keeping us informed and for the shout-outs. Re the vids, honestly, I never intended to make three–two, yes, because I wanted Reel Richard and Real Richard in separate vids–but then dear old YT was doing some blocking, so the third one came about.

I wanted there to be at least one vid pretty much everyone could see. And I will be happy to arrange a future Bday celebration for you. My husband would attempt to strangle me if I ever did it for him. ๐

I didn’t even know there WAS a Chinese forum until Nadia contacted me and said they had linked by Dreamer video there! Mr. Armitage’s fame is indeed spreading . . .

this is what I mean about the fandom growing beyond our capacity to perceive it — and that being a good thing. Honestly, writing this post almost overwhelmed me. I am a champion at organizing and answering email but the sheer number of pushed messages this week (plus covering the places I go looking for information) really swamped the time I had available. If it’s like this now, what will it be like in November? No fan will be able to be everywhere — and I look forward to that diversification.

Me, too. Itโs exciting. Again, I think of what his mum and dad must be thinking about all of this, and what Richard himself is thinking. Heโs about to become a true global phenomenon. How do you wrap your head around all of it? I can only see his fandom becoming ever more diverse. And surely that is a good thing?

Servetus, I came across this a few weeks ago, not sure you have already posted. I thought I saw Richard in the background in this clip from the latest Hobbit production vlog and this blogger managed to slow the clip down so we can see him. http://sketchlavie.tumblr.com/post/29052767100/uhhh

Crikey! I don’t know! Sometimes it’s hard for me to get the nuances! Ref to your recommendation of the fanfic โSlanderโ I’m not able to grasp if you like Hiddleston or not and which blog you were talking about to delete? I’ve to say, as I haven’t seen any film with him to date, I’m quite unconcerned about him. Utterly chuffed with RA!!

Sorry to have been cryptic. In practical terms, I don’t care either way about Hiddleston although he is the source of a little conflict deep inside my fangirl soul. May write about this eventually — it’s the topic with which this blog would end, whenever that happens. I meant that reading that fic made me think my own blog was superfluous ๐ It encapsulates something that I struggled for a long time to understand / accept.

Ok, still cryptic but I see light loom on the horizon…:-) Reading this fanfiction was (more than!!) interesting, even though it has a weird mixture of dominance and submissiveness which finally left me at a loss and caused seriously furrowed brows. BTW your blog is by no means superfluous at least not for me!

mixture of dominance and submissiveness=yes, exactly. Who is in control?

I think it’s a common experience for a writer (of any kind, but esp an academic) to struggle to work something out and then discover someone else who’s worked out a big chunk of it. That fic really conceputalizes my cognitive and emotional issues around writing and fandom effectively — says in a few thousand words what it took me years to figure out. That’s not the end of the blog b/c I haven’t figured it out yet, but it is kind of stunning.

It’s been a dilemma in the past for scientists and mathematicians in terms of “who solved it first”? So you labor in isolation, developing a long hand theory for certain phenomena, when suddenly you are confronted with an entire PROOF, written in elegant and concise shorthand, illustrating the exact theory you’ve been working on.

It IS a bit breathtaking, but hopefully, also a huge relief to know you are not alone. ๐

Ahh. Unless you are applying for a patent, rarely does being ‘first to market’ with an idea or even having ‘the best product” ensure one will be the market leader or not be dealt into obsolescence by an inferior but cheaper product (beta vs. VHS). And just a few examples of dominant copycat companies are “SBUX” (vs. “Peet’s Coffee”) or “Costco” (vs. “Sam’s Club”).

So yes, being the ‘first’ may hold less relevance in business than in academia. ๐

Just meandered over there to read what you are talking about and all I can say is ‘Wow, that is some ACE uninhibited writing!’

I hope you took this as positive affirmation of your own blog normalcy, as that writer basically confronted ‘a worst scenario nightmare’ with her story. But allow me to disagree and say that your blog is about SO MUCH MORE than just your fantasies (although you also include those here).

I’m a bit ‘meh’ about Hiddleston and find him harmlessly adorable, but his ‘Armed Forces’ (because let’s face it, his legion go well beyond a single Army of followers) impressively prove that creativity via fandom can also successfully push the edge of the content envelope!

And I do believe the future will belong to those who are able to consistently produce and market their content. Not a single traditional publisher / producer / agent does not understand that this is the growth path forward of the new digital media age.

yeah, the surface issue (what would happen if the subject of my writing were aware of it and angry enough about it to purse legal action) has been one of my bogeymen off and on, though it’s largely evaporated since the revelations of April, so it does help of course that she deals with stuff around the RPF issue. It happens to be that the topic in both cases is sexual fantasy and that bowls me over because I tend to conceputalize my own problems in terms of sex — sex becomes plot, therapy, religion, imagery, whatever.

Hiddles neither here nor there — there’s one thing about him that kills me and causes me twinges w/r/t Richard Armitage but that fact is in itself interesting.

On the marketing point — I absolutely agree with you (and also that this favors the cultural producer ultimately, insofar as one keeps better control of one’s stuff, at least potentially) but what’s fatiguing is the amount of effort that could be involved. There’s a reason that human civilizations evolved division of labor, after all.

True, but these systems within civilizations also rise and fall – they have to, in order to evolve and survive.

This is one of the reasons I hold great affection for the
Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The represent creation, preservation, and destruction – clearing the way for the next cycle of creation.

Regarding the fatigue, you still need a team to help you! ๐ No one does any of this successfully alone. ๐